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We're excited to invite you to join us for our second Open Studios + Brunch event of 2016. Open Studios is a great opportunity to engage with artists, see what they're working on and network. Spend the day touring and indulging in frosty summer cocktails, delicious danishes and breakfast delights.

Gateway Project Spaces is also thrilled to launch an art supply store *Project + Supply*. The space will include a variety of supplies that meet the needs of professional artists such as paint, canvases, drawing and drafting materials, screen printing items, journals, office supplies and more. Small works by Project For Empty Space gallery alums will also be available.

Along side of the Open Studios, Artist In Residence, Derrick Adams will be throwing a DAY PARTY, as part of his current exhibition at the Project For Empty Space gallery, Culture Club. DAY PARTY is an energetic and engaging activation of Adams's DJ booth installation. Come listen and dance to beats by some special guests DJs!

Image: Anthony Alvarez (c) 2016

CURRENTLY ON VIEW IN THE PROJECT FOR EMPTY [at] GATEWAY PROJECT SPACES

Culture Club is a solo project of large-scale works on paper exploring ideas of celebration, highlighting the Black figure in the context of contemporary culture and leisure. With a nod to cultural perseverance, the display gives perspective to the creative output and outlet of Black America as a reaction to the joys and struggles of just being.

Adams' seriocomic approach in Culture Club is achieved through a series of figurative mixed media painting-collages and installations. A spread of twenty pool-lounging figures, better known as the “Floaters,” traverse the gallery, where they function both as individual vignettes and as a nonlinear narrative. Each floater is a swath of deep blue acrylic on paper that incorporate collaged elements of vivid African prints and other graphic textiles depicting swimming pool scenes of figures in states of rest and play on inflatable and whimsical pool floats. The “Floater” paintings are joined by additional collage works resembling aerial views of table settings of celebratory gatherings and festive unions, communicating collectiveness and family history - past, present and future, surviving and thriving.

African heritage and American nationalism are central to the conversation taking place in Culture Club and explores this relationship, offering not only a commentary on the joy of the present; but also, presenting a direction for the future.

Derrick Adams is a multidisciplinary New York-based artist and former Curatorial Director of Rush Arts Gallery in Chelsea. Adams received his MFA from Columbia University and BFA from Pratt Institute and is an alumni of the Skowhegan School and Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program. His awards include a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, S.J. Weiler Award, and an Agnes Martin Fellowship.

Since 2001, Adams has exhibited extensively, both nationally and internationally, including MoMA PS1; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Studio Museum in Harlem; Brooklyn Academy of Music; Contemporary Art Museum Houston; Birmingham Museum of Art; and PERFORMA ‘05, ‘13 (commissioned by the Calder Foundation), and ‘15; Adams’ work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Birmingham Museum of Art. He recently served as guest curator for the inaugural curated section of VOLTA NY 2016.

Adams’ work can be seen in New York at Tilton Gallery; Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; Gallerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris; and online at derrickadams.com.

Books You Might Like

SOMETHING IN THE WATER by Catherine Steadman:
Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .
THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT by By Chris Bohjalian:
Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She’s a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police—she’s a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home—Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it’s too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did?

Quotation of the Week

"To me, a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug."—Helen Keller